Sapa to Ta Van

View right outside my top floor room at Hotel Gold Sea, Sapa!



Had my breakfast here. Breakfast was a lovely buffet of Western and Vietnamese food; the pho was so good I almost got a second one. The 3 day-2 night trekking tour was arranged through Ocean Tours in Hanoi.

After breakfast, we met our Black Hmong guide, So, outside the hotel. Two little girls making bamboo horses across the paths came over and joined us as soon as we set off, asked us lots of questions like our names etc, followed by 'buy something from me later?'. It soon became apparent that they are walking us all the way back to Lao Chai, their home village a couple hours away, where we'd break for lunch.

We followed the main road, and it was actually quite hot even though we'd been told that it's always cool in the mountains. So had black velvet 'legwarmers' on, as is the style of Black Hmong women, but she said she's used to the heat. 

the view was stunning, of course, but So said it would be much better in September, when the fields are emerald green with rice shoots (the fields are fallow at the moment).

These girls are only 11 years old. They'd finished compulsory, free schooling, and their parents don't have the money to let them go further. Their spoken English was amazingly good, and rather unexpected after Hanoi. They learned from tourists (and i guess there are trekkers here everyday!), and it was the first time in Vietnam I had been able to carry on a conversation in English...with 11 y.o.! In fact, our guide started when she was 12! she even showed me a photo of her when she was 12 - given to her by one of her clients who came and found her after 12 years (yes she's only 24...). So said her 16 y.o. younger sister was also a guide, but she's studying in Hanoi now because a Spanish couple is sponsoring her studies.

The girls were sweet - they walked behind us and would break away to do their own things, like looking for mountain streams to fill their water bottles. They sang, picked berries, and gave us little bamboo horses and bouquets made from flowers and fern. 

Lao Chai - down in the valley

We took a break up on a hill overlooking the Black Hmong village of Lao Chai. So does some embroidery at every opportunity - here she's working on an armband, by eye only! They make their own cloth, dye them, and do all the amazing embroidery by hand as well...so I can see why So has to do something whenever she gets a break.

and check out her plastic 'slippers'! everyone has them! and I can't believe she can walk up and down steep slopes full of skittish pebbles in these...especially when she's 6 months pregnant!

We learned alot from So, e.g. the ladies move to the husband's village after marriage; the Black Hmongs can mix with other tribes and inter-marry; they grow corn, rice, soya bean and cabbage. So was just lovely and I can see why she has been invited by clients all over the world to visit them.

down in the valley, there were little kids having a great time swimming in the river; it's amazing to see them running and jumping with such ease, because I know a city person like me would be wincing at every step because of the rocks...haha

scenes of village life - to the left, a potable water source, protected from water buffalos and the ubiquitous black piglets with sticks; on the right, ducklings in a pen on the edge of a rice field

water buffalo cooling off in the mud is a common sight here!

While we had our lunch of noodles, the girls brought out their ware, hand-embroidered bags, bangles etc. They'd followed us for a couple of hours, and that's their way of making a living until they can become guides, so I bought a small bag which came in very handy later on in my travels (and a bangle...so that I bought one thing from each girl).

We continued our trek under the blazing sun to Ta Van, which is comprised of 6 villages. On the way we stopped at a school built with international donor funds, and watched the kids rehearse for a school performance all by themselves. They looked very sweet :)

We arrived at our homestay after 3 pm. There were only five people in total that night (including a lovely couple from Canberra!), but there's capacity for at least 3 times more.

So working on her embroidery again. She says it can take a month to finish a belt.

and in case you were wandering, yes there's a shower and western toilets at the homestay

After chilling at the homestay, it's time for a dip! we headed down to the river (my new bag came in handy!), and 3 girls instantly appeared and followed us to the river. They weren't pushy, and my travel buddy taught one them how to float. Still, it wasn't a great feeling when they followed us back and tried to sell us stuff.

We then settled down in the courtyard with garlic french fries and a nice big bottle of Lao Cai beer (surprisingly much better than all the other beers I had had in Vietnam). The other trekkers were good company and it was all very enjoyable...

then I had a peek inside the kitchen and omg! so much food! rest assured you'd be very well-fed!

We couldn't finish all the food - the meat dishes were taken away, and the veg dishes lumped together and given to the pigs (I assume).

The owner of the homestay didn't speak any English, but she was full of smiles. We couldn't communicate so she watched tv while we sat outside drinking complimentary 'Happy Water' aka rice whiskey (blegh!), and enjoyed some star gazing.

The power went out around 10...and early night (and a disappointed one for the owner because she was in the middle of a drama! haha)